Hawaiian, Tongan, Samoan TAPA cloth - AD #: CL28

HOW IS IT MADE?

Tapa cloth is also known as "bark cloth," because that's just what it is. It is cloth made from tree bark. It's usually from a mulberry tree (Broussonetia papyrifera). However, it's also been made from the breadfruit tree (Artocarpus); remember, that's what Captain Bligh (of the ship Bounty) was trading for in Tahiti when his crew finally mutinied. And tapa cloth also comes from other barks, including trees in the Ficus and Hibiscus families.

The bark doesn't go easily into the cloth. Even from the beginning of its life, the plant is watched, pruned and cared for. All this work is necessary in order to make the cleanest possible tapa (fewer branches mean fewer holes in the cloth). That's the man's job in the manufacturing process.

Once the man cuts down the tree- in most Polynesian cloth-making societies - the majority of the work is turned over to the women.

Here is a brief overview of how the tree becomes cloth (keeping in mind that different cultures will include their own differences):

1. A straight sapling (maybe about a yard long) is cut.
2. The worker peels back the bark, turning it inside out.
3. A knife is used to separate the soft, pliable inner bark (the bast) from the outer bark (the outer bark is thrown away).
4. The bast is laid on a board and, while being kept wet, scraped with a sea shell (or other tool).
   • The scraping cleans away remnants of the outer bark.
   • It also softens and spreads out the fibers.
   • The scraping produces a clean, white product.
5. The cloth is then beaten with a beater (you may have seen one of these for sale on eBay).
   • Note that, in modern times, the scraping step is sometimes left out, and the cloth is beaten.
   • Un-scraped cloth isn't as clean; but, for pieces produced mainly for the tourist trade, it doesn't seem to matter that much.
6. The beating continues (with several layers of cloth at a time) in a definite rhythm.
   • The beating starts with a wide-grooved face.
   • Near the end - when the cloth is the right thickness - the beater is turned over and the smooth face completes the job.
7. The individual sheets are then separated, stretched out, and weighted down with stones to dry.

And that's the cloth. Some cultures use it raw and unpainted. But, if that was the case with all barkcloth, you wouldn't really know it was tapa.

After the bark becomes cloth, the specific design work begins. The design helps differentiate where the cloth was made, but they can vary even within the same culture. The design methods include:

• Rubbing against a design template fashioned out of leaves or (more recently) carved into wood.
• Rubbing against a template that contains colored dyes (some of which rub off onto the cloth).
• Painting the cloth to follow the design after the rubbing.
• Painting the cloth freehand (without following an indented rubbing).
• Painting the cloth using stencils. Yes, stencils; I'm not kidding.

When dyes are used, they are made from natural elements. The colors vary from yellows to reds to blacks (with an occasional blue).

Please understand, this is an abbreviated version of how the cloth is made. Imagine doing the full process. Imagine sitting out to complete the cloth over a period of days or weeks. And imagine it without modern tools.

So you see, tapa isn't just a pretty picture; it's got a lot of elbow grease mixed in. As to what makes the picture different, a lot of that deals with where a particular piece is made.

  WHAT IS IT USED FOR?

Tapa cloth was, by design cloth. The islands where it was prominent did not have the process to weave cloth. So they used what they had, and earned a place in history.

Since making the cloth was very time-consuming, finer and more elaborate pieces would be used for ceremonial purposes. It was used as gifts or trading goods. Large quantities of the cloth were signs of wealth or royal birth. And some tapa was designed only to be worn by royalty.

Over time, industrialized methods of producing cloth made it to the Pacific. This made other cloth cheaper, and more likely to be worn by those with less material possessions. This highlighted the use of tapa and ceremonies and by island kings and queens.

And yet, it was something cultural that the poor might still want to have or give, if only in a small amount. Even today, there is something about tapa cloth. Whether for clothing or decoration, it has value in the effort that must be put into its creation. Which is why a nice piece is so valuable today.

The specific piece you buy was probably not made for an island king. But, then again, you never know.

Tapa cloth from Fiji is also known as masi. You see a lot of that around recently. Especially on eBay. And especially in smaller sheets.

Fijian tapa is rather distinctive. It seems to use a lot more black (at least on the pieces that I have seen). But, it is most noticed by the rows of smaller, relatively even designs. Those designs, by the way, were made with stencils (I told you I wasn't kidding before).

In older days, the stencils were made from available natural materials, such as banana leaves with slits cut in them. Recently, the artists use discarded X-rays or film negatives.

The patterns are also worked out by folding the cloth to help orient it for the rows of designs. The designs themselves are often black. They include rectilinear themes, and manage to keep up with the times. For example, one Fijian tapa cloth included a stylized muzzle-loading musket as a stenciled design.

I don't have any with muskets, but here is a nice piece of Fijian tapa (about 34 x 60 inches):

A couple of features of Fijian masi include:

• It is designed in advance to be a specific size.
• It is a long rectangle (often about twice as long as it is wide).
• It has a border wrap (a combination of stenciled images) as well additional borders that become increasingly smaller as it focuses towards a central design strip.

As stated, it is very distinctive, and usually easy to recognize.

Tongan tapa is also known as ngatu. I have specific interest in this variation, because it was what sparked my interest in tapa in the first place.

From my research, I have learned some interesting things about designs that you commonly see on Tongan tapa. For example, the following meanings exist:

DOVE - Peace

LION - British royalty (to show solidarity with Britain in World War I)

EAGLE - Aristocracy

PINE TREES - The Norfolk pines lining the road to the royal palace

TONGA COAT of ARMS - A special design in itself. This includes the quote:

"KOE OTUA MO TOGA KO HOKU  TOFIA"

which translates into English as:

"God and Tonga are my heritage."

Note that TONGA is spelled: T-O-G-A; in this case, the "G" is pronounced "NG" (you get an added cultural bonus).

Another design is the "Pangaikafa Matahihifi" motif. It means, "slanted eyes," and the eyes are often paired at the apex. Other designs include "Tokelau Felatoa" (cross-section of a tuna) and "Kalao"(the Mapa seed pod), which you can see below:

One of the big things about Tongan tapa is, well, that it is big. Or can be. In fact, it can be huge. I don't have any that are a hundred feet or more in length, but here is a photo of one that's over 14 feet long.

This cloth helps show a couple of distinctive characteristics of Tongan ngatu:

• It will usually contain at least some of the designs I have shown.
• It is usually created in rows, with each row having a set of designs (that are repeated on the next rows).
• The ends (at least one) will usually be unpainted, with every other row numbered.

Tongan tapa stands out as a nice piece of history (for the islands as well as for my family). And it has also kept up with the times. For example, when Halley's Comet was seen over Tonga in 1910, many tapa cloths added a design (like a sun with a tail) to commemorate it.

Finally, tapa from Samoa is also known as siapo.

It seems to me to be a more mellow variation. This style deals mainly with designs in nature, which are often stylized into geometric shapes.

Here we see a full cloth, with a set of repeating designs:

The designs here are very basic. Other designs (on cloths that I have not personally owned) are more complex. But they still follow symmetry and natural motifs. For example, here are some graphics which I have created; they are my artist renditions of actual tapa cloth designs: